The Role of Metacognitive Activities for Teaching Reading Comprehension to ESL Undergraduate Students

Abstract

This mixed method research follows a pragmatic paradigm to investigate the efficacy of a collaborative action research approach to teaching reading comprehension using Metacognitive techniques, juxtaposed with traditional methods. Utilizing an experimental research design, the study involved a cohort of 410 undergraduate students, employing a triangulation strategy that integrated questionnaires, pretests, posttests, and teachers' journals as data collection tools. Participants engaged in two reading comprehension assessments and a 60-minute, self-paced teaching of four days a week of the selected texts for the period of three weeks. Analysis of the collected data sought to evaluate the impact of the collaborative action research intervention on students' reading comprehension, measured through the difference in the results of the pretest, posttest scores. The findings revealed a statistically significant improvement in reading comprehension scores for the experimental group (M = 6.98000) compared to the control group (M = 3.55500). These results provide compelling evidence for the effectiveness of the metacognitive teaching techniques, highlighting its potential to enhance students' self-efficacy and awareness in developing critical reading comprehension skills. This study opens avenues for further exploration into metacognitive strategies and their application in reading instruction.